Shea Moisture's global success and million dollar empire was built off the backs of black women. Now, in their quest to go mainstream the company has decided to focus on the hair problems of white women

Hi, my name is Tobi Oredein and I am a black woman. In 2014, I founded a business called Black Ballad with a black man called Bola Awoniyi. However, just because myself and Bola are black, I’m not quite sure it makes Black Ballad a black business (stay with me).

The truth is when we founded Black Ballad, we didn’t even see it as a business. It was a passion project, spawned by the lack of media representation for black women in Britain. Yet, over the last three years, I've fallen in love with the process of creating content for black women. That love affair and the struggle to catch a full night’s sleep, while running the website alongside our careers, left us no choice but to turn this into a business.

Being two black millennials heading up a project that is successfully creating this membership platform for black women, there was something empowering about being able to call Black Ballad: “black-owned.”

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“Editor's Letter: Shea Moisture Proves Ownership Isn't Enough To Call Yourself A Black Business ” was created for Black Ballad members, but you can have access to three stories a month, including this one, by signing up for free!